Saving the Newsroom (and Other PR Blog Jots)

Saving the NewsroomSocial Media ExplorerThe traditional newsroom has been getting a lot of bad press lately. Layoffs and other issues have been linked to the expansion of new media and the decrease in the power of print. Jason Falls has some ideas to save the newsroom before it dies off completely. He advises an “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” approach, urging old guard media types to listen more, and relax their standards. “If you follow step number two above, you’ll learn that immediacy trumps
accuracy to most people. As a result, corrections and clarifications
are okay in today’s web environment. (It’s not like you guys and gals are exactly perfect, anyway.)
If CNN had been paying attention to Twitter on April 18, they could
have published a banner newsflash, “Reports of Earthquake in Midwest”
either on Twitter or their website, then followed that up with a link
to details as they were gathered.”Social Media for a Good CauseChris BroganSocial media is a excellent venue for philanthropy, and has revolutionized fundraising in many ways–but never before (at least not that I can recall) have social media professionals been the focus of the fundraising. That is, Chris Brogan and a few other smart social media guys are putting their services on the auction block to raise money for children’s leukemia research. Support their efforts! “Jennifer Leggio is training for a marathon and working to help fight
leukemia and lymphoma at the same time. She’s looking to raise $10,000,
and she’s got a creative approach to doing it.”

Social Media Tools for Your Personal BrandPersonal Branding BlogBy now people who read here regularly know that personal branding is a pet issue of mine, which is why I link to Dan’s blog here so frequently. This post is definitely worth checking out–he details the top ten tools in social media that are useful towards building a brand for yourself. “If I endorse a social network, it means you can trust my judgement and
that it will have a positive impact on your personal brand. The reason
for this is simply because reserving your brand name on over 2,000
social networks doesn’t make sense. It’s not manageable and will hurt
you, instead of provide value or ROR (return-on-relationship). Join the
one’s that help solve your professional or personal problems, that are
popular, credible and relevant to your current situation.” PR for PRNaked PRThe idea that public relations could use some good public relations has been bandied about in this space before. Jennifer Mattern highlights the question, wondering what the best approach to solve PR’s PR ills would even be. If the perception the public has of the profession is so off, how do we best go about changing their view. Doctor, heal thyself? “Who can do the most good in correcting misconceptions about the PR
industry, and how can they do it? Is there anything we can do as
individuals (aside from operating ethically ourselves and making sure
our own clients better understand what we can, and do, do for them)?
Sure, we can blog about it. Does that really help though?”